


Before the Beginning: How a Vampire found His Yarn

by yellow_craion



Series: Soulmates Yarn [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Aromantic Raphael Santiago, Asexual Raphael Santiago, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Holding Hands, Insecure Magnus Bane, M/M, Magic Revealed, Magnus Bane's Cat Eyes, Raphael Santiago Has Feelings, Red String of Fate, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-17 13:31:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17561339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellow_craion/pseuds/yellow_craion
Summary: A tiny prequel to How a Monkey and a Snowflake Found Their Yarn: A Soulmates Tale :)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> requested on tumblr: BEFORE THE BEGINNING — three sentences (or more) about something that happened before the plot of my current project

Hello, gentle reader. Let me tell you a thing about soulmates.

 

They are a gift.

 

They are so rare among Shadowhunters they are close to unheard of. A bit more common in the mortal world, and, while still rare and precious, most often found among the various Downworlders species.

 

Why is that, you ask?

 

Well, the crucial thing about soulmates is choice.

 

The choices we make shape us, along with the outside circumstances, into who we are. No child is born with a soulmate ready for them for that very reason, because no soulmate is ready-made.

 

And there’s no room for choice in a society built on following orders.

 

Raphael knows this, by the time he finds a red string dangling off his wrist one rainy spring evening.

 

It’s early, but he’s safe in his suite; the window covered with a thick black curtain keeps the remnants of sunshine away. Rain is pounding against it on the other side, beating out an even rhythm. There’s likely to be a storm later, the vampire thinks, as he’s getting dressed for the night.

 

He’s just finished putting in the silver cufflinks into one shirt sleeve and about to do the same to the other one, when he sees a flash of red in the corner of his eye. The color stands out against the blue of his shirt.

 

The first thing that comes to Raphael’s mind is that he spilled some blood on it. Upon closer look though…

 

His breath catches and he staggers on his feet

 

A red string.

 

The vampire lets out a teary chuckle at the strange sight. His dead heart clenches in his chest and for a briefest moment it feels full.

 

But then the doubt comes in like a wave, drowning out the hope and Raphael is torn between pity and anger. Pity for whoever found themself tethered to him, and anger at the universe trying to force him into... 

He knows not all soulmate relationships are sexual, or even romantic. But the rational part of his brain is stuck somewhere unreachable, while he’s stuck himself, still staring at the red string dangling off his wrist.

 

And thus he finds himself an unexpected - but always welcome - guest at Magnus’ later that night, after the clan meeting is concluded.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raphael makes it to Magnus' place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, big thank you to lewispanda for her help and support! *hugs*

It’s way past midnight by the time he actually makes it to Magnus’. The tall black door opens as if on its own, before he can lift a hand to knock. Not at all surprised, Raphael’s eyes find the warlock splayed on his blue armchair in a robe and silk pajama pants, flicking his wrist lazily and closing the door behind the vampire.

 

“Evening,” he smiles and pointedly glances to the sofa, telling Raphael to sit. “What’s going on, my boy? Your text was a little vague.”

 

Before he can answer, Raphael spots Alec coming out of the kitchen.

 

“Hey there,” Hardison greets him with a wide grin, pointing over his shoulder. “You hungry?”

 

The man is a horrible cook. Still, the vampire diet is a blessing in the sense that it’s so simple - just pour blood out of a bag and microwave it for a few minutes.

 

“No, thank you.” Raphael shakes his head and proceeds to stare into space silently. Maybe he’s just overreacting. Maybe he shouldn’t have come, he could sort it out himself…

 

Then he spots the red in the corner of his eye and he’s lost again.

 

“I’ll leave you two alone, then. Goodnight,” Alec passes Magnus with a soft peck to his shoulder.

 

“Can you, uh,” the vampire stops him without looking up. “Stay. Please.”

 

“Sure,” Hardison leans against the armchair at his soulmate’s side, both of them giving the vampire an expectant look.

 

“I found a string,” the vampire mutters petulantly, then lifts his wrist to make it clear.

 

Magnus sits up properly at the news, while Hardison just comments:

 

“You don’t look too thrilled about that.” 

 

“Snowflake…” the warlock starts but is interrupted by Raphael.

 

“I know, I know. It’s a great thing to have a soulmate, not everybody has one,” the vampire recites the common sentiments in bitter tone. “I just keep thinking. You have magic and experience and…”

 

The frustration is bubbling up in Raphael, and he struggles to speak past the lump in his throat. “And I’m just a bitter grumpy vampire! Not even the sexy kind the media exploded with recently,” he shudders at that particular image.

 

“I resent the implication,” Hardison says, startling Raphael from his self deprecation.

 

He blinks up at them for a moment, comprehension dawning on him what he said.

 

“I know you didn’t mean it like that,” Alec admits gently, “but don’t you ever think I’m with Magnus just because he has magic and all that shit, you hear? Or I will send a boxload of pornos to your Hotel and you can explain to your clan what you do with their money.”

 

“Right.” The vampire smiles softly, momentarily distracted. “Sorry, both of you.”

 

“It’s all good,” Magnus assures, with a grateful pat to Alec’s forearm.

 

“What was it like, when you found your string the first time? And when you found out about Magnus?”

 

“Well…”

 

Hardison chuckles. “The night we met, I was in the middle of a job.”

 

“You were!” Magnus agrees with a fond laugh, then turns to Raphael: ”Imagine meeting your soulmate when he’s pretending to be someone else to a roomful of people. Talk about mixed signals! He needed a trophy to prove he did actually beat this new security system...”

 

“Tanuki,” he says with a wistful look. “Tough system. I never actually finished that job… I mean, you can’t blame me!” Alec adds in a hurry. “I just met my soulmate! No job could beat that.”

 

Raphael knows there’s no lie to their words, yet he can’t actually believe he could get this lucky himself. “And you had no issue with the magic? You weren’t scared?”

 

Hardison furrows his brows and asks with a laugh: “Scared? That my soulmate has superpowers?” He then smiles softly and sits down next to Raphael. “I get it’s different for you, yeah? The sunlight and the blood thing and all, that’s not something I had to deal with, when I met Magnus.We had other things to work through,” he gives Magnus a knowing look and the warlock reaches out a hand to hold his.

 

\--

 

They’d been both following the string for months now.

 

Hardison actually moved to New York, assuring Nana that yes, he had a new job (technically speaking not a new job at all) and yes, he was taking care of himself (he was living off take out and the orange soda). The beauty of his chosen profession was that he could work anywhere as long there was internet available, and even if it wasn’t, he’d make it so.

 

He was mostly taking quick jobs at that point - hacking The White House here, robbing a Swiss bank there - keeping an eye on his Nana’s medical bills of course. His main focus was finding the soulmate though.

 

That, and building up his reputation.

 

Magnus, meanwhile, felt trapped.

 

He’d just recently broken things off with Camille and spent most of his days wallowing with a whiskey, turning away any potential clients. When he discovered the string he was euphoric.

 

The first thing he did was to visit Ragnor at his home, surprising his friend (and himself, because he’d forgot to message him beforehand) in the middle of a client meeting. They were both too happy to care about the shaken human scampering away from the portal.

 

But then the high ended and back came the things he’d been hearing all his life (most recently from his vampire ex).

 

He was stuck between joy at finally finding someone who could love him whole, and terror that all this waiting would just culminate in rejection as soon as his soulmate learned of Magnus’ true nature. The anticipation was killing him.

 

So, as any great warlock, he tried creating new potions, spells, charms - anything that could help him reveal the identity of his soulmate. All his attempts failed eventually, but the effort kept him busy and his mind away from depression, which was still good enough for him (and Ragnor).

 

He’s out on a stroll one evening, like so many times before, following his string.

 

This time is different. The string doesn’t disappear into thin air. It keeps on going, leading Magnus to… a museum.

 

His heart is hammering in his chest as he’s making his way closer to the entrance and reads the poster about some charity gala exhibition taking place there. There’s staff and security checking invitations at the entrance and he rolls his eyes at the hassle, then promptly runs off into back alley for a quick magic wardrobe change and a portal into one of the more secluded rooms. There’s no way of telling yet if his soulmate is one of the quests or staff, but Magnus is almost certain at this point that they are in fact a human, not a Downworlder.

He takes his time mingling with the crowd, sipping on the complimentary champagne and stealing glances around, looking where the string will lead him next.

 

When he finally finds the person his string connects him with he freezes mid step, accidentally bumping into someone.

 

“Sorry,” he says breathlessly. “Sorry, did I spill that on your dress?”

 

“Not at all,” the woman assures and they exchange brief pleasantries, but Magnus is preoccupied with locating his soulmate after losing sight of him.

 

“Any chance you know who that is?” He asks, pointing to the tall man in a tux, surrounded by people and utterly unaware of Magnus. He watches him, not bothered by the flagrant flirtation he’s witnessing. He has his own nightclub owner persona, he knows how these things work and he refuses to spiral into judgement before even actually meeting the man.

 

“That’s Minister Bioko,” he hears. A politician?

 

A commotion erupts. A crowd gathers around his soulmate as he’s fallen to his knees. There are shouts and whispers about him being allergic to shrimp, and a call for a doctor, and Magnus has to grip the table with the refreshments to keep upright, otherwise he’s about to collapse himself.

 

Wouldn’t it be the ultimate middle finger from the Universe if he were to watch his soulmate die before actually introducing himself.

 

He blinks the wetness in his eyes and marches over, forcing himself into action, consequences be damned if people see him use magic.

 

The minister seems to be better though and staggers up with the help of a waitress and another man, and Magnus breathes out a sigh of relief. He lets them go for now, only throwing a small locating spell at his soulmate, so he can find him later.

 

As in, half an hour later.

 

In one of the corridors, in the part of the museum that is not available to the general public, Magnus is following the string again when he hears rapid footsteps and some shouting. He peeks around the corner - and there is his soulmate; no longer in a tux, but dressed in the same suit with striped red tie as the guards chasing him.

 

Not a politician, Magnus thinks wryly. More like a thief?

 

He opens a portal few steps behind himself and waits for the man to make it around the corner. His soulmate practically crashes into him - but that’s alright, Magnus grabs him by the hand and pulls him through his portal into safety.

 

They step out into an empty alley a few blocks away. 

 

“What? How? What just happened?!”

 

Magnus gives him a moment to calm down, trying to collect himself as well. The way he sees it, it can end in two ways tonight. Either he won’t have to worry about how to come out about being a warlock, or he successfully scared his soulmate and saved them both some heartache.

 

He starts to worry when the other man lets out a hysterical laugh.

 

Hardison can’t contain himself.

 

“Look at you, man! My soulmate!” He makes a happy high pitched sound, waving a hand up and down towards the other man. “How did you find me?”

 

He thinks of where they were, how he was running from security just a moment ago, and where they are now. He thinks they were holding hands. He misses the pressure and the warmth.

 

“Was that a portal?! What did you do?”

 

“Yes.” The man’s eyebrows go up briefly. “That was a portal. I’m the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane.” He introduces himself, the words falling with ease, like they’re familiar, frequently used.

 

At first Hardison suspects a prank, but there’s weight to the title, and an almost menacing confidence radiating off the man.

 

And, oh… Oh! His eyes shift into gold, practically glowing in the dark.

 

Alec is staring.

 

He takes a step forward, not sure if what he’s seeing is real or just a reflection. Or maybe wishful thinking.

 

Closer, closer until he can almost touch the other man - the warlock! With golden cat-like eyes! 

 

Alec’s face is split with the widest grin. He can see, almost in slow motion, as the stony expression on Magnus’ morphs into something softer.

 

“No, but really, look at you,” Hardison mutters in wonder. He glances down to find the string connecting their wrists, just to make sure it’s really there. He touches the warlock’s hand with the tips of his fingers, his skin tingling and he’s not even sure if it’s just his nerves or maybe there’s some magical current running through the other man’s hands.

 

They’re pretty, he decides. With big heavy rings that dug a little into his palm when they were getting out from the museum. But that’s alright.

 

When he turns his head up, Magnus is staring right back at him.

 

“You’re not scared?”

 

Hardison shakes his head. “Why?”

 

“I’m a warlock, half human, half demon,” Magnus clarifies, his jaw clenching.

 

“Oooh- kay,” he says, not liking the tension radiating from his soulmate. Almost as if he’s trying to scare him off before anything can happen and Hardison won’t have that. He’s not sure yet how much he can actually believe about the magic thing. He wants to, God, does he want to. But warlock or not, he’s not going to just give up without a fight. So he gives the man a wide grin and counters:

 

“How about I form my own impression after we get to know each other, first, huh? Would that work?”

 

That seems to take Magnus by surprise, if the rapid blinking is anything to go by and Hardison now gets really worried. Shouldn’t soulmates want to get to know each other? Was Magnus going in ready to give up?

 

“Alright,” Magnus whispers breathlessly.

 

Between the cat eyes and the soft barely-there smile he’s getting, Hardison is wondering what he’s done to be tied to a soulmate like this.

 

“I still don’t know your name, though.”

 

“Shit! Sorry! Alec Hardison,” he reaches for the other man’s hand, not sure if he wants to shake it this late in the conversation, or just to hold it again.

 

And that, dear reader, is the story of how a warlock met a hacker.


End file.
